WM Morrison is facing a potential equal pay claim in the region of £100 million from hundreds of its staff (predominantly women), who are of the belief that they have been underpaid when compared to their colleagues, often men, working in distribution centres and warehouses. Morrison’s shop floor workers namely customer assistants argue that they have been underpaid by as much as £2 per hour. On average 70% of Morrison’s customer assistants are women.
The law on equal pay states not only that men and women should be paid the same for the same job, but also that they should be paid the same for doing jobs of equal value. This applies to pay and other terms and conditions for example bonus payments, holidays etc.
Morrisons is the latest of the “Big Four” supermarkets to face an equal pay claim. Last month it was revealed that there were plans to launch equal pay claims against Tesco. Asda and J Sainsbury face similar actions.
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